Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, presented on Tuesday a solar cell on a sheet of paper, marking a major breakthrough in research of renewable energy.

At an event held yesterday, the Italian company Eni and MIT inaugurated the Eni-MIT Solar Frontiers Research Center, for research in solar energy, new materials to the production of hydrogen from the energy from the sun. The MIT site explains the aims of the center, as well as the progress achieved since the beginning of the partnership in February 2008.

The solar cell paper – with an efficiency up to 2% but still under research – promises to be an important step in the lower cost of solar panels, big obstacle for the sector to date. However, the center’s director, Vladimir Bulovic, says the technology is still years from being commercialized.

Faced with this, a horizon of applications opens up the development of devices for transforming solar energy into electrical energy. The site CNET mind that layers of this material may be spread over different surfaces in order to create new types of solar panels. The center also searches other sources of energy, especially in the area of nanotechnology.

The initial investment on the part of Eni was $ 5 million and we also have $ 2 million from the National Science Foundation. According to MIT, the Italian firm’s investment should reach $ 50 million by the end of the contract.

Via: MIT.